Hydrocarbon based fuels (including petroleum products, natural gas, etc.) have been, and remain, a major source of global energy production. Projections of global oil reserves and a variety of other issues have motivated individuals, companies and governments to research possible energy production alternatives. These research and development efforts have included the search for improved techniques, systems and methods for producing energy from existing, known energy sources. For example, efforts have been made regarding the ability to extract oil located in geophysical locations that are difficult to reach using conventional technology. Additionally, efforts have been made to make existing energy processes more efficient, more cost effective, and more environmentally friendly.
Other efforts have focused on extracting energy from reserves that have largely been ignored in the past. In some cases, these resources or reserves have been ignored because they are not as carbon rich as other available resources. In other instances it is simply more difficult to convert the resource into a useable form of energy. For example, substantial efforts have been made to extract oil from sources such as tar sands and oil shale. While technically feasible, extraction of oil from such sources in the past has conventionally been considered inefficient and ecologically unfriendly.
Moreover, because the uncertainty of the world economy is heavily influenced by the energy sector, the ability to provide additional, alternative sources of energy becomes desirable for any nation. The mantra for fusing multiple sources of energy for use by an existing yet changing infrastructure is a lofty if not the primary goal of the industry. Thus, making more effective use of existing resources is an important piece of this puzzle as are new resources and new technologies.
As such, it is an ongoing desire to provide new sources of energy, to improve energy extraction efforts, and to improve existing processes and techniques so as to provide energy more efficiently, more abundantly, and in a more environmentally friendly manner.